


The Mysterious Misadventures of the Mystery Skulls

by nickkk



Category: Mystery Skulls Animated
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Blood and Injury, Canonical Character Death, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Humor, I have no idea how to tag omg, Mentions of Blood, Paranormal, cursing, ghost - Freeform, strong vocabulary
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-06
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2020-03-02 10:13:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18809083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nickkk/pseuds/nickkk
Summary: It has been a while. The gang it's together again and they're all ready to become the family they once were.Lots had happened, they trust it's shattered into millions of pieces. But they must get over themselves in order to get back what they lost.Mysteries, demons, ghosts, werewolves, vampires and shapeless creatures are going to get in their way before they can reunite, but they're stronger than that, don't they?They're the Mystery Skulls, and "give up" it's not on their dictionaries.





	1. Your friend and neighbor, the ghost

**Author's Note:**

> *screams in agony*  
> So it's here! after 4 years of waiting the fic has seen the light aofhalflkajgsljg  
> Hopefully you'll enjoy this, not a lot of plot here.  
> Special thanks to everyone who supported the preview on Tumblr, and to @ghostly-business for the suggestion!
> 
> Song: "Dancing In The Moonlight" by Toploader/ King Harvest '73

_We are the Mystery Skulls. And if you ever see us at the street you may recognize us by our very particular ways, you see, we're not just weirdos with an obsession with the paranormal, we're ghost hunters who exorcise your local demon out of the house, we take away the vampire that ate your grandma last week; and we exterminate the werewolf that keeps you up all night with its howling._

_This is our diaries. If you found them: Congratulations! You’re now reading true supernatural resource to trust when it comes to demons, mythical creatures and, most specifically,_ _ghosts_ _. This is completely true, nothing made of myths and wacky YouTube videos, THIS IS ONE HUNDRED PERCENT TRUE AND DON’T DARE TO DOUBT ITS CONTENT._

_With that being said, prepare your butts, sit straight and clear your mind, because we’re about to blow it-_

Her pale skinned hand grabbed the pen next to her and furiously scratched all of that gibberish she just wrote on the notebook. Frustrated, she sighed soundly for the world to hear how bored she was, then she lied on the carpeted floor of the comic book store she worked at.

Not that her days were boring at all, she had a plenty of stories to tell if you properly ask, but since her and others people life had come back to, what she could claim, “normal”, the minutes around her passed slower than she remembered. And the Lo-Fi music Chloe played on her phone didn’t help at all.

Vivi now remembered, now the facts were accommodated on her mind that they make sense, how could she even forget? A cave that ruined everyone’s life or to the poor lost soul that dared to come in there should never be erased of someone’s memory, but somehow she did, with a little supernatural help of course. Months ago she would be oblivious, ignorant of what her side job had caused, just waking up on a hospital next to her friend without any context, finding out he had missed an arm and showed no intentions on waking up soon, wasn’t especially helpful.

Back then ignore everything was easier, she just had to disconnect herself of the outside, ignore what a missing night made to her, it was just a night, nothing to lose, yet she almost lost all she had. But it was just a night.

The young bright woman would have prefered not get what she lost back.

But something she couldn’t deny was how her days were filled with new emotions, new exciting things to babble all day, new stories to tell. Since it all was put back to its place -or almost all- she had certainly increased her undying happiness.

Passing the day with both boys she loved and her mysterious pet was what she had needed all along, pass days again making terrible jokes, saving Arthur’s ass whenever he was in trouble, hugging her boyfriend for protection or in seek of unconditional love when she wanted, petting her totally-normal dog or looking for clues when she couldn’t resolve a chase, small details that brought a smile to her face and kept her with a renewed sense of living everyday.

It could be called completely happiness if it wasn’t for the pain it revived inside her. Her friend losing a limb, her boyfriend tragically falling to his death by his best friend’s hand, her pet that covered terrible secrets, a cursed cave that ripped lives apart on the course of a night; it all formed tears on her eyes. No way she could escape the past nor run from her present, but fix the future.

Vivi still could save her future…

“Vivi! Your phone is making funny noises”

“Fuck off, Chloe, I’m dead right now.” the young woman mumbled annoyed, still on the ground.

“It says it’s important!” the teenage shout from the other side of the store. “Duet says you gotta answer!”

Her answer was an angry _FINE_ before she went to were her coworker was, the closplayer had the phone on her right hand, she had an smile on her darkened face, one of those smiles that didn’t meant any good. When Vivi became visible from the back of the store, the girl’s smile grew.

The blue, grumpy worker tried to grab the phone from her hand only to get a handful of air.

“Chloe, gimme the friggin’ phone”

“Only if you promise me you’re going to get me a supernatural boyfriend or, I dunno, join your team?” her playful smile and tone made Vivi more irritated than she already was as the anime fan put the phone further from Vivi’s reach.

“Not even in your dreams” and she grabbed the damn phone. Chloe just let herself fall on the desk defeated, the blue girl won this time.

Vivi unlocked the cell and its brightness hit her face, she had one missed call from an unknown number and several messages from the same number, not anyone she remembered. Pressing the MSM app the messages appeared for her to read, she grinned, a good job had come to them.

 

 

* * *

 

The night covered the sky completely. The stars shon along the white moon, ruling all over their heads. Silence could be heard from every corner of the dark forest they were at. The  gang was back to work. The four members rode their way to the location of the next job, a haunted mansion outside Tempo, not too far from the next exit to Houston, between the forest and the stone mountains, it was a very strange place to build up a house, or a mansion.

The orange van, an honorable member of the Skulls, wasn't something you'll see everyday, a vehicle that carried a very particular 'Ghostbuster' team with a vengeful ghost behind the wheel, a very blue and energetic paranormal enthusiastic, a reluctant paranormal investigator and mechanic; and a dog that was not really a dog but let's just call him 'dog’ for now. A team that was almost a family, friends that had known each other all their lives, non-related bloodlines, call them whatever you feel like.

Once ago, the Mystery Skulls were inseparable, you couldn't find one without the other, basically they hanged together and stuck around themselves like if they were glued. Once ago they would be happy, alive. Now, as the machinery vibrated calmly, the passengers were forced to listen the 80’s radio that played from who-knows-where. The song was not that bad, Redbone had always a good theme to sing along with but the tired atmosphere was not helping their mood. They sat down in silence, not awkward, but still silence, their mouths shut as they secretly agreed over the deafening sound of nothingness that this was better than actually sharing their days.

“So, what’s our next job, Vi?” her boyfriend asked from the driver’s seat, looking at her with those dark eyes. A towering figure that could freak out any folk who draw near to him.

Vivi cut herself from her daydreaming when his gaze fell on hers, she half smiled him with a sleepy face and her hand grabbed her notebook from her lap. “Seems that we got ourselves on a very interesting one,” she read her messy handwriting. “It’s a very old house, like from the 1800, probably older… the original owners build the house for their family, you know, those folks used to have numerous families. One day the roof fell on them and at least four persons were killed, the damage was only on the upper floor. Anyway, the mansion was just sold by the bank to Danielle Bry, who repair it again and she moved in there, she has been living on it for a week and she says at night there’s noises on the upper plant, she already tried everything she could but she just can’t get rid of the sound, she even called animal control in chase of rodents or such... as if racoons lived on atics…”

“What? Racoons _do_ live on your atics. I once found one at Lance’s, it bitted me.” Arthur protested from the back seat showing his racoon bite scar proudly.

“Arthur! I thought you were asleep.” Vivi looked at her tired companion, big eye bags on his face, his hair messier than when they found him and face still dirty from work; it was hard for her too see the blond guy like that, not when she knew how he used to look like years ago. But she had to admit he was gradually getting better. Slowly, but it was better than nothing.

“I was, yes” he yawned and stretched a bit. “, but you two won’t let a sleep deprived guy rest on the back”

“Sorry…”

“So ghosts huh?” Lewis cut their conversation.

“What a surprise” Arthur responded “, as if ghosts were that rare. Can’t they just look for a priest or something?”

“Yes, Danielle could have look for a priest, but our prices are lower I suppose…” Vivi turned to face the window and wondered if they should higher their prices, after all, their works were ‘well done’.

The van stopped in front of a massive mansion. Beautiful windows from the victorian ages, a giant wooden door at the entrance, big gardens around it and three imposing floors. The light khaki painting made the mansion less scary to Arthur’s eyes, who was looking for positive points about the place to not be entirely scared of it, he found none.

“Here it is.” she pulled herself out of the vehicle, next to her Lewis and, mostly behind her, Arthur. The shadow of the place against the moon was massive, shadowed anything under its black covers, threatening whoever dared to put their feet near it.

Mystery smelled the fresh air looking for paranormal readings or out-of-normal essences, he had certainly taken more measures after the cave, he was not in shape to lose any more pups to death. Plus, he couldn’t find anything out of normal.

“Do you sense anything, Mystery?” She asked looking down at him.

Her dog stood still and silent some seconds before speaking. “I don’t think so, everything feels normal. But watch out for any poltergeist activity… There’s some energy coming out of the attic.”

“Good, so we know where they are” Lewis lighted the atmosphere. “Should we wait for the owner or…?”

“None of that! She said she'd left the door open for us.”

“Great! I’ll wait for you guys on the van, good luck.” Arthur turned on himself and made his way back to the orange van.

Vivi grabbed his white t-shirt. “You’re not going anywhere, carrot. You’re staying AND coming with us.”

Arthur gulped and threw a very quick glance at Lewis who was not paying real attention to them. “But ye heard it, there’s a possible Poltergeist, I’m not getting my ass there, I might get… y’know… _possesed?_ …”

The last part left his mouth more like a whisper than a sentence.

“Arthur, I can assure you there’s no risk on getting possesed again, we already fixed that, remember?” Mystery consoled him getting to his side, looked up at him with resuring eyes and a confident smile -a smile no dog could achieve with their lips- that soothe his nerves just a bit. Arthur nodded doubtedly, felt a little guilty now that Mystery had said _that part_ aloud, and Vivi loosened her grip on his t-shirt.

Stepping inside the mansion could only be described as entering a black hole, the floor was non-existent and the darkness of the ceiling mixed with the shadowed walls. Vivi reached a flashlight inside the bag she carried on her shoulder and turned it on to break through the obscurity of the place, she gave a step forward followed by her teammates, behind them, the big wood door closed with a terrifying ‘slam’ making the jumpy blond man regret several life decisions. Guided by the weak light emanating from the lantern, the four Mystery Skulls members made their way to the attic.

The decoration of the living room and the majority of the mansion was clearly questionable, would also add the word ‘strange’ but that term was too short to fit its description, it was a mix between rococo, the early victorians and some funky 80’s theme. On the living room, a big victorian style couch with some neon pink and green cushions that resaltated among the rococo sky, chandelier and chimney; also a very particular jukebox with bright yellow letters saying ‘ _Rock On_ ’ contrasting the very selected opera compositions it contained. The kitchen was behind the stairs, nowhere to be seen, and the 80’s dining room was several feet away. Nothing on the house made absolute sense or was logical at least.

Walking upstairs to the second floor, the gang found a dead end at their left made purely of apilated cardboard boxes, behind it, a long hallway filled with countless rooms and a eternity of darkness that the lamp couldn’t light up. The stairs ended there so they had to find a ladder to the attic, kinda inusual on those old houses.

“I don’t get what’s with ghosts and big, scary mansions like this…” Arthur reclaimed when he grew overwhelmed by the dark. “all I see here are rooms where ye can get lost along with spooky stuff.”

“Well, I gotta say that I got lost on my own place a bunch of times.” Lewis whispered to Arthur’s direction.

“Did you ever got bored?” Vivi asked with her gaze lost on the nothingness. “ Too many rooms… I dunno…”

The only response was a echoing  “ _mehhh_ ” sound from the ghost and a weak and timid snort from her best friend.

“I think I found them.” she declared pointing to a ladder that leaded to a small trapdoor on the ceiling. The ladders had fallen from their support up there, the nails creaked by the years and the soft ‘tum’ sound they made when they hit the floor gained Vivi’s attention, hurriedly, she headed towards the ladder and with her hand she searched the trapdoor handle only to feel the coldness of the metal chains that criss crossed it and the padlock that hung on them.

There was a locked trapdoor and no key.

She gave a resigned sigh and mentally prepared herself to start climbing to the attic from the outside but when the chains broke and almost smacked her right on her face she reconsidered the situation. Pushing the door open she felt a chill breeze on her hand that froze her for a moment, the young woman pointed the light side of the lamp to the new hole on the roof and saw how it was worthless, it was like having the light off or like if she was pointing to the sky on a starless night, it was so dark it devoured any glow.

Vivi could only see how her curiosity grew when her eyes got used to the obscurity of the room and noticed the holes on the old roof as it leaked some light from the night and shadows moved inside it, ghosts, she thought when the shadows hided from her.

“See anything up there Vi?” Lewis asked.

“Yeah, Mystery was right, they’re here, but I’m not sure if is one or two specters.”

Arthur gave a step back. “I… uh… I’ll wait for you guys here, yeah” walking backwards he gained distance from his teammates just to be surprised by the sound of falling cardboard boxes behind him; so up he went to the attic with powerful legs pushing him out of danger. “Nope, nope, nope, nope, **fucking** nope”

 

 

* * *

 

The attic was massive, there was plenty of space to keep stuff even if other furnitures were already there, if you wanted to storage the current furniture at the house you could do it and still have plenty of space, like for a Costco parking lot. Vivi’s heels tapped gently on the floor and the echo of the place replaced the silent peace, with the light she discovered new items out of darkness, everything covered on what should have been white sheets once and one hundred years old dust.

Arthur coughed when he tried to grab what seemed to be an old radio, gray by the time and freezed on the 99.8 FM station, he remembered that was the 24/7 swing music, it made no sense if you payed attention to the entire house thematic, but what made far less sense was the floating shadow staring at him. Shyly, he noticed he was now on his own, he shaked his head to every direction just to see that the light had been eaten by the endless attic. Arthur lowered the old radio and thought on jumping by a window to get the hell out of there, he could always wait for them on the van, of course it would have been a good idea if it wasn’t for the fact there were no windows nor holes to jump from. His nerves were now eating him alive.

“Gu-Guys?” He asked with a shaky voice. “Lewis? Vivi? You’re the-there? This’ not fun”

“Arthur? I’m right here.” Oh, God. Not him.

A wet nose met his sweaty hand.

Why did Arthur Kingsmen had this bad luck?

“AhHh” he moved his hand abruptly when the nose met his hand. “, Mystery please don’t do that.”

The not-dog apologized quietly. Then Mystery realized they were both lost. “Oh damn.”

  
  


“I think we lost them…” Vivi realized she lost two members of her team.

“Oh damn.”

“Arthie! Can your hear me?!” She shouted at the top of her lungs and with the help of echo she made sure her friend could hear her. But it was like if somebody ate the message because she had no answer. “C'mon! Art!”

They stayed silent for a few seconds and they got no response. “Ughhhh, why now? Just when we had our first friggin’ chase together, Arthur gets lost.”

“And you know what's worse?”

“What?”

“We also lost Mystery.”

“God damnit, Lew.”

  
  


“We should keep walking.” Mystery suggested walking to some direction Arthur couldn't identify not even by the soft 'click’ sound his paws made.

“Mystery, not to be a killjoy but we kinda don't have a light.” The dog stopped himself. Then the fact that humans didn't had night vision hit him. Humans had too many flaws.

“Just keep walking, we'll find something along the way.”

“Right.” When Arthur gave a step to try to catch up with Vivi's pet, he stepped on a bunny tail, it was Mystery's.

“YOU go first, Arthur.”

His guts shrunk and his sight shortened various feet, the best way to kill him was attacking from behind, Arthur thought. With a reluctant attitude he walked in front of the non-dog, he walked blindy only illuminated by the small lights of the stars leaking like water through the old roof. The only thing that gained the blond’s attention was again the soft noise the pet’s paws made making his nerves reach the sky and probably higher, the detonant of his increasing worry was the loud crash he heard at his right so, mindlessly, he ran.

  
  


Vivi’s only preoccupation was finding Arthur. Of course, it was not an easy task with the strange noises behind her, they were like ghostly noises but… more natural perhaps. They were not because of the night time nor anything she had ever heard before, she identified it more like hassle, a kind of discussion between two inhuman entities.

“Do you hear that, Lulu?” she exclaimed, “, it’s like… two people talking but in another language, maybe?”

“Yeah, I’m kind of tired of hearing them…”

“Do you understand what they’re saying? What are they talking about?”

He stood quiet for a few seconds. “They’re discussing actually, uh, they’re discussing about some property, but I’m not sure exactly _what_ property” Vivi cursed under her breath, regretting not bringing her spirit box.

“Should we approach?” she asked looking with her eyes where the voices came from.

“I don’t think so, they’ve stopped.”

Her shoulders fell as well as her factions. “You’re right, let’s find Art and Mystery.”

  
  


“Arthur! Stop! It was just a glass!” fainting, losing his breath, Mystery shouted behind the fast boy. He could be faster than any normal human being when investigating the paranormal, or maybe he was just Flash disguised as a thin mechanic, who knew.

“Hell I’m stopping.” he declared still running.

“Wait, Arthur! You’re about to crash wit-” it was a little too late, the boy had hitted something sturdy before the dog could even finish.

  
  


The batteries had died a while ago, maybe minutes or hours, she was not sure since her phone also ran out of charge. Her stress grew with the fact that they still had no sign of the other two members and the pokes at her shoulder didn’t cease with anything.

“Stop doing that” she threw a not friendly look at her boyfriend.

“Stop what?”

“Stop poking my shoulder, it’s not funny Lew.”

“But I’m not even behind you.”

A supernatural magenta fire materialized on his hand lighting up the space between them, he was right, he was not behind her, so what was playing with her? But also something hit her like a baseball bat. “You could have done that since the beginning? Light a flame?”

“Uhm, yes?”

She facepalmed, why hadn’t she had that idea before?, “I hate you.”

Lighted by his torch-hand, both kept walking straight to what seemed to be the nearest light spot. It was like finding the light at the end of the tunnel, it blinded her after being on the dark for a long time. It was a hole on the roof, were it had fallen years ago. There was lot if wooden planks all over the floor, rusty nails and tools, some brown metal too. The Moon poured heavily above them making everything under it look white and shiny, like a diamond.

Vivi looked up, and what she saw made her fall in love, tall black trees on the deep purple and blue sky, a gigantic full Moon accompanied with countless stars, it all reflected on her bright blue eyes, filling her insides with their beauty.

“Lew, hun, look at this.” her eyes sparked. “It’s… amazing!”

He stood on her side, turning off the flame, and he joined her lost gaze up to the infinity. His white skull shined under the reflector and Vivi giggled and with tip-toes she tried to reach him to kiss his bony cheek, she was so close but-

“Wait, Arthur! You’re about to crash wit-”

Something small hit his back, buried his face deep on him and a muffled “ _ouch_ ” adjoined with a ‘thud’ sent Arthur Kingsmen to sit hard on the floor. The flames on Lewis’ head heightened for a moment and the young man already could hear the angry ghost reprending him or a powerful punch on his cheek, he maintained his eyes closed waiting for a nonexistent harm, instead, a hand was offered.

“Arthur, are you alright?” his echoing voice cut through his thoughts. His fearful eyes met his glowing magenta ones and he just straight jumped into a well hidden panic.

“Yeah, I’m good.” he quickly grabbed his hand and stood up, avoiding any eye contact. “Thanks, Lewis.”

“Where have you been? We looked for you anywhere!” Vivi’s enthusiastic energy asked to Mystery, petting his head.

“That’s quite a good question actually.” he said, moving his tail as his owner scratched behind his ear. “But anyway, did you find something?”

She denied shaking her head. “Guess we couldn’t find anything up here” she sighed. “we should go down and try to pick up the spirit box or the spectrometer.”

 

* * *

 

 

Getting back into the dark they found the trapdoor again, went downstairs only to see the box wall was gone. The wallpapers were falling off the corners and the beautiful chandeliers had disappeared as if someone had taken them away from their spot on the sky.

To Arthur’s amusem, he got more scared, he heard the boxes fall on the floor, how did they disappeared so fast? Or did they expended more time than he thought? And where were the spiky chandeliers?

But not only the box wall vanishing, the wallpaper getting older within seconds or the candelabrum walking away were the oddest thing to notice, the whole place had gone nuts. The floor creaked way more, the stairs were merely incomplete having some steps missing, most of the rooms were canceled by long wood planks and the decoration was just gone, probably the gone decoration was the best thing.

They left the mansion as quick as possible. But outside the van was nowhere to be seen.

“What, in the actual fuck, happened there?” asked Arthur, panicked by the lack of the orange van.

“I… How much did we stayed there?” she asked to herself under her breath. She looked everywhere, the mansion was the same outside, same light khaki, same victorian windows and same gigantic dark wood doors. The garden was sure a little bit abandoned making the bushes grow out of control and the vines took over the walls. Something was odd here, maybe a mystery out of a mystery? Oh boy, she loved this chases.

“Arthur, try with the alarm of the car, I have an idea.” the ghost conclude. The blond boy hesitantly and still a little shocked, reached for the keys on his left pocket, pressing the button a distant muffled ‘beep’ of an car alarm sounded. Arthur’s heart stopped and almost fell down of his chest, Vivi’s confusion made her question physics and math, but for Lewis relief his theory was right. “Follow me.”

 

* * *

 

“What in the world?!” the girl rubbed her eyes. Arthur ran to the vehicle to check it up, or maybe give it a big hug.

Vivi couldn’t believe what her eyes were witnessing. The mansion was just around the corner, but also _the mansion_ was behind _this_ mansion. Vivi reached for Arthur and borrowed his phone from his pocket, she checked the time and date to find out it was the same day, just an hour late.

“This makes no sense… This can’t be...” she whispered. “Is your phone broken, Art?-”

She was cut mid sentence.

“Kids! Is that machinery yours?!”

“Uh, yeah?” Arthur took his eyes off the van to see a mid aged, white skinned man coming to them with not very good intentions. Vivi quickly tried to hide her boyfriend behind her, obviously not working but gave him little time to disguise himself.

The man was tall, with a grey mustache and light blue, perfectly combed hair coming out of his black beret. He wore a shirt that seemed to be white, his brown pants were broken in the knees and they covered his black derby shoes. His hands were clenched on tight fists and all his body screamed “ANGER”. His face was enraged, but then he saw his eyes, was that man a…?

“Why did you parked it on my damn house?! This’ not place for you, get outta here!”

“ _YOUR_ house, George?! I think you’re wrong, bastard.” Another man shouted from behind him, almost same description except that this new man was shorter, thinner and had sunburnt skin, his hair was deep red and had no facial hair. Also a carpenter’s apron hanged from his waist.

“Mind your business, John!” the first man declared, stopping his hunting a few feet from the team, ‘George’ turned around to face ‘John’.

“Hell I’m minding my business, as I’ve been telling you, THIS property belongs to me and this kids can park their stuff wherever they want.” his posture changed into a more proud one, standing straight and hiding something behind him, not a belonging but someone. The other man growled at Arthur and walked away with strong steps clashing against dirt and resounding on Arthur’s scared head. He gulped as soon as the man was no longer menasing him.

“I’m sorry for that… It’s just that we can never get in an agreement. Y’know, neighbors.” the red haired man apologized to them relaxing his back muscles, he scratched the back of his head awkwardly and a woman dressed on a long dress and a small child on her arms poped out to sight. She had all her hair under a big pashmina scarf on her head that also happened to cover a little bit of what seemed to be her son.

The man got closer to the gang with a good intention aura, he stretched his hand to Arthur, who was closer, and said “The name’s John Brown, nice ta meet ya.”

John's eyes were finally visible for them, all they saw was darkness and glowing red pupils floating inside, his skin was paler than paper that it almost looked gray-ish because of the night. No doubt this man was a ghost, a normal kind of ghost, probably a funnel type but considering he had a physical form was mostly a regular kind like an interactive personality, Vivi counclued.

“My name is Vivi! How long have you been dead?” The girl quickly rushed to the ghost man and shaked his offered hand. “Is it true you can smell like cigarettes or cologne? I’ve never seen- or smelled, one before”

“Now, that’s enough, Vi.” Lewis lift her away from the ghost and she emitted a weak ‘aww’. “Sorry about that, she’s too excited for the paranormal things.” he apologized.

“No problem, I guess… I suppose you’re the new owners of this place.” he responded with a mid smile. “Good to know you, tho. I thought we were going to be exorcised outta here”

“Uhh, yeah, we’re not the new owners” she laughed. “, we’re here to track you down actually.”

“Well, that changes things” He said. “, and to answer your previous question, we have been around here for good 100 years, o that’s when I lose count…”

With a hand on his chin, he rubbed himself trying to remember the last time he saw the calendar.

“Also, quick question, what’s wrong with that guy? He almost killed me, dammit!” Arthur protested waving his hand in front of him to get attention.

“George you mean?” John laughed a bit. “That’s quite a long story… he’s responsible that we’re still here.” the man sighed tired.

“How so?” Vivi asked.

“You’ll see…” John told a very interesting story, it all began with the old town of Tempo being built up and many foreigners looking for new properties or places to construct themselves a roof for families came to this brand new place, both men weren’t an exception, George came with intentions on expanding his business of canned food and John looked for a home were his new family could live and have a good future, and Tempo looked like growing up as city on its near future. The catch was that these were nobody’s land, so whoever stepped on them owned them from now on, they coincide on the land but never actually noticed each other until the house was already done. The fight kept going on for years until one day they were fighting over the possession of the house on the attic, then it fell down on them.

“Da bitch grabbed my axe and cut down the pillars, I just remember waking up like this with my wife and son…”

If Vivi had had popcorns she would have devoured them. The story had plenty drama, explained the ghosts backstory and probably some of George’s behaviours. But it also gave Vivi an idea of how to solve this.

“Tell me, Mr. Brown, do you perhaps own some of the archives of the house?”

 

* * *

 

The man led the paranormal investigators into a gigantic studio, it could be mistaken for a library thanks to the enormous book shelves that surrounded the walls and the nice green carpet. Tons of tomes and novels and dictionaries and encyclopedias and… Vivi lost count as her fingers weren’t enough to count them down, Vivi could only wish the comic & bookstore looked like this.

“What’s the plan Vivi?” asked Arthur throwing his eyes all over the studio.

“It’s very simple actually, Art.” she grabbed one of the books on the lower shelf. “ We have to find whose house this is. They can’t move on without knowing who actually won the property, so by checking the registers we should be able to locate the writings or the ownership, maybe even the early plans of the mansion, anything helps.” Then she smiled up at him.

The team wasted no time to get their hands to work, they got a handful of books to read by the end of the night. The three covered different areas to make it quicker while Mystery registered the desk and other drawers in chase of missing information on the books. His nose moved fast inhaling the welcoming but broken smell of his pups, they all had a different scent that fitted each other like puzzles, he missed the days when those scents would mix to create the perfect perfume that, if he got a chance to bottle it, he would wear it like cologne everyday of his life. But even if that harmony was lost, he said they were getting better, he could tell that slowly they were mixing again like they used to. Sometimes he got small hints of the perfume, too short and light that the air carried it away just when he got the chance to enjoy it. That upsetted him at times but it always encouraged him to hurry up to fix things.

He kept smelling, papers, dust, and old glue as well as dry ink overwhelmed his nose with every breath the took, until something caught his attention: an old gramophone. It had a particular smell, like if it was kind of enchanted, it didn’t seemed bad because the odor was more sweet than bitter or raw, it called up years of love and friendship but he couldn’t tell how many or even who. It made something click on the back of his mind so he looked over the discs to see what could this play to make its magic work. And he found one very specific song.

The song started nice, softly called his nearest pup ear, Arthur readed a book and all his being was inside the yellow pages but his mind and fingers remembered. His flesh connected to the cold wood and, unconsciously, he played the scores on the edge of the table he was working on, his right foot marked the steady tempo and with the left he occasionally switched octaves like if he was playing on a grand piano in a orchestra in front of a very tough audience and a very strict principal. He never noticed he was doing it, his mind was somewhere else, too far away to know what was going on with the real life Arthur.

Vivi was hidden on a corner of the studio, she heard the song and a smile took over her features and her hand clapped on the carpet. She hummed the tune to herself still not taking away her eyes from her lecture, but she knew what she was doing and she loved it, so she kept singing.

Mystery smiled at both his living pups, and then he saw Lewis, he stood still in front of the bookshelf, near to the tall window. He was too quiet like a grave, no ghostly or echoing noise escaped his skull. He had always been the charming vocals, the enthusiastic singer that had no shame when it came to sing along to the music he liked, yet the song hadn’t tore through his being. His glowing pupils were deeply fixed on the record book between his strong hands that he paid no attention to the orchestra coming on behind him. Mystery was about to give up his plan when…

“ _We get it almost every night_ ” it was more like a whisper more than an actual phrase, barely sang and too echoing, but it was a beginning. “ _When that moon is big and bright_ ”

“ _It's a supernatural delight_ ” Vivi sang, not taking away her eyes from the text.

“ _Everybody’s dancin' in the moonlight_ ” now it was a duo. They smiled to the other. They smiled back.

“ _Everybody here is out of sight_ ” Was that Arthur? “ _They don't bark and they don't bite_ ”

It was probably his imagination playing with his senses, it could be thousands of things that he couldn’t even name, but Mystery swore the trio’s eyes met across the room. Their sights didn’t hurt, they weren’t meant to destroy themselves, there was no fury nor confusion, they were just… friends, it was just friendship.

“ _They keep things loose they keep it tight_ ” the blue haired girl continued.

“ _Everybody's dancin' in the moonlight_ ” unison.

“ _Dancin' in the moonlight_

_Everybody's feeling warm and bright_

_It is such a fine and natural sight_

_Everybody's dancin' in the moonlight_ ”

 

There was a time, not long ago, if they remembered correctly, when they were not strangers,  when they would be dancing along the song, of the tune inside their souls. They remembered nights like this, the four on the van, camping next to a nice and cozy fire, stars up their heads and a full moon that looked like a giant snowball. They would just put the USB on the van’s radio and full volume, who could hear them didn’t matter, why would it matter anyway? It was just the Mystery Skulls and a whole forest full of mysterious creatures.

They remember dancing around the campfire, singing like if there was no tomorrow, that if the world might just end if they didn’t followed the lyrics right. It would be just them and their laughter to keep them company.

“ _We like our fun and we never fight_ ” Lewis dropped the book on the nearest table and grew closer to Vivi.

“ _You can't dance and stay uptight_ ” Arthur accompanied. “ _It's a supernatural delight_ ”

Lewis offered a hand to Vivi to help her stand up, she received it cheerfully. “ _Everybody was dancin in the moonlight_ ”

And the four sang.

“ _Dancin' in the moonlight_

_Everybody's feeling warm and bright_

_It is such a fine and natural sight_

_Everybody's dancin' in the moonlight_ ”

 

He made her spin, and like if both were connected, she followed the steps alongside her boyfriend.

“ _We get it almost every night_ ” the two male voices mixed. “ _when that moon is big and bright_ ”

“ _It's a supernatural delight!_ ” the blond boy completed.

“ _Everybody's dancin' in the moonlight_ ” and both lovers finished.

Arthur stood up, Mystery barked excitedly, Vivi and Lewis were face to face and he bent down so his white skulls met her forehead.

“ _Dancin' in the moonlight_

_Everybody's feeling warm and bright_

_It is such a fine and natural sight_

_Everybody's dancin' in the moonlight”_

 

Mystery was feeling it, it was the smell, the fragrance he oh so adored. So sweet, so overwhelming to his senses, too happy for him to handle at once. He jumped on the floor in front of Arthur and the young man clapped. Mystery saw a smile, one bright and toothy smile he hadn’t seen in a long time, did he ever smiled that hard before?

“ _Dancin' in the moonlight_

_Everybody's feeling warm and bright_

_It is such a fine and natural sight_

_Everybody's dancin' in the moonlight”_

 

They all clapped with him.

_“Dancin' in the moonlight_

_Everybody's feeling warm and bright_

_It is such a fine and natural sight_

_Everybody's dancin' in the moonlight”_

 

The rest was history, the record slowly ended and all they could do was laugh at the top of their lungs. Their differences were aside for good three minutes, their issues didn’t even existed as the gramophone played their song. Yes, it was _their_ song. And it soothed away all pain and all faults like if it buried them five feet underground.

Vivi gave a big hug to her boyfriend that her little arms could manage and she held him with mean. In the corner of her eye, she saw a smiling Arthur standing alone a few inches from them, her sixth sense reacted and broke the hold from her boyfriend to run and share her love. He was easier to hug so she squeezed the thin figure that his bones cracked and he was given no chance to react.

“I think I found the archives of this place.” He said with no air left on his lungs. Vivi released a little her arms, still circling her friend. “This not one mansion, this are TWO different mansions connected by the attic!”

“Arthur… ” she looked up at him with a sparkle on her blue eyes. “Arthur, you’re SO GODDAMN RIGHT!”

She completely let go the younger man. “It makes sense! It would explain why we got lost on the attic earlier, THAT’S WHY IT IS SO LARGE!”

“Also means how we got out in front of the other facade and why was it so abandoned!” Lewis exclaimed. “ _Good job, Bob_.”

Arthur smiled nervously at the joke, that horrible pun, he regretted showing Lewis that meme.

“We have no time to lose, boys!” her cheerfully voice called from the exit door of the studio. “Let’s call Danielle and the ghosts to finish this right now!”

 

 

* * *

 

 

“What ya telling me is that this mansion is not one, but two?!” annoyed, George squeezed hard his knuckles and pressed his ghostly teeth. “How’s that even possible?!”

“I know it sounds a little messed up, but hear me out” Vivi said reassuringly. “, there was only one architect by the time you were alive- living here! And he only knew one way to design facades and houses in general, without knowing, your houses were mixed somehow.”

John frowned, he was probably not that happy with the Skulls’ discoverment, it didn’t help any of their undone business on Earth. “Then how do we know who’s who?”

“That’s actually unexplainable tho…” Vivi backed a little, she forgot that part.

“Well yes, but actually no.” Arthur retook the explanation. “These terrains belong to only one owner.”

That certainly light up the ghosts faces. “So who is it?!”

“None of you.” Lewis continued. “The original owner reclaimed this place ten years before you came to Tempo. He was just too old and died before he could even start building up whatever he wanted to.”

The blue haired girl grabbed the hands of the two friends in a silent, thankful gesture. George and John looked taken back, disconcerted about the news, many years of fighting only to discover any of them truly owned the place.

Their confused looks ceased when a blue car arrived outside the house and the claxon greeted them all. A tall white skinned woman pulled herself out of the car, her deep blue afro popped out of it in a funny explosion and her strange and baggy 80’s clothes matched her also funny personality.

“HELLO Y’ALL!” she said waving her hand in the air even if she was a few feet away from the gang. “I see you capture them! Awesome!”

“Now that explains a lot…” Arthur exclaimed with a smile on his face and rubbing his chin.

“Ah, Danielle, just in time!” Vivi stepped in front of them to welcome her. “Yes, we did catch them! Lemme present you, these are Mr. and Mrs. Brown and Mr. George- I’m sorry, I didn’t hear your last name…”

“George Bry.” he responded grumpily.

“OH.MY.GOD” Danielle looked pale and shooked. “YOU’RE GEORGE BRY! MY DAD’S GRANDFATHER! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH I AM GLAD TO MEET YOU!”

She hurried to him and shaked his hand quickly. Her big eyes lighted up fast and her blue lipstick showed a big grin that no human should be able to express. “My dad talked so much about you, he showed me thousands of pics and _OHMYGODI’MJUSTSOHAPPYYYYY_! Tell me all of you are staying here with me, it’ll be so amazing to have you here!”

The man looked at the Brown family, who were expectant of his answer, he stared at the excited girl holding his hand, and, finally, he nodded happily. And she threw herself to him.

“Well, this was just another well done job for the Mystery Skulls.” Vivi put herself in front of her team, standing proud of her two teammates. “Wait, I forgot the lamp inside, Danielle, do you mind if we…”

“No problem, Vi! Go ahead!”

The four got in the house, and with the corner of her eye she saw the lamp. “Got ya!”

“Wait, before we go… I wanna try somethin’” Arthur approached a table covered in a mantel, on top of it, rested dishes and old decorations. His hands grabbed the end of the mantel and with all his strength he pulled it. All the dishes fell scandalously at his feet. Except for one item. “At least the flower pot is still there…”

Vivi frowned. “Goddamnit Arthur.”


	2. Beware of the undead train

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are many urban legends, you better decide in what to believe. The mythical yet “nonexistent” metro-2 of Moscow is somehow found underground, the skulls are called to investigate this extrange phenomenon located in someone’s basement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here we are, next chap! This one is based on one of my favorites urban legends haha. I think this chapter is a little shorter than the last one .-.  
> I suck at summaries :U
> 
> Song: "Istanbul" by They Might Be Giants.

If you ever ask Arthur how he thought his life would be, his answer surely is “not like this”.

He was just a young mechanic, he aspired to inherit Kingsmen Mechanics, he aspired to a simple yet happy life surrounded by his loved ones and best friends, however, he ended up becoming and reluctantly joining Tempo’s paranormal investigators: the Mystery Skulls. He couldn’t recall when he first joined to investigate the things he feared most in the world, he was just a second-grader when he met this ‘new kid’ Lewis and, a year later, Vivi popped out of nowhere, or better said, she fell off the school ceiling, to be part of their group. 

Arthur had never been a guy with a lot of friends, he was talkative when he wanted and trusted people very easily, however, he never called someone ‘friend’ that fast. The years had changed his point of view, had increased his social anxiety, had made him ‘grow up’; he now feared for his life thanks by the paranormal that many times had persecuted them, anything wasn’t what it seamed, and friends were capable of stabbing you in the back, or shoving you off a clift. 

Arthur’s life wasn’t surely the most easiest in the entire world, everything that could go wrong went wrong. But it wasn’t even the tip of the iceberg, there’s still a lot to unpack; ever since he woke up from a coma at the hospital his daily life had been full of ups and downs every now and then. His uncle had been at his side the entire time he had laid down in his sleep and he would be the first one on hold him tight until the pain fled away from his nightmares. Lance is no the most tactile person on the world, but when it is about Arthur he transformed into another, completely different, human being, and his nephew was grateful for that.

The young man couldn’t recall the last time he felt normal, and he was certain he was never feeling like that ever again no matter how hard he tried, the life he had had a long time ago was ripped away from his arms and lost as if it had been thrown into the depths of the unknown ocean, the life that once was, was no more. And when he first opened his eyes at the hospital and gave his first conscious breath, the air entered his lungs heavily, uncomfortable as hugging a cactus, it went up to his fuzzy head and he immediately knew that he was breathing the beginning of a new life. But when he truly felt that the constant rollercoaster of life touched bottom was when he had no sight on his bestfriends, the blue haired girl had been taken away by Lance and doctors, also, his uncle prohibited her standing near to his beloved nephew from now on; and Lewis, his long time friend, his brother, the gentle giant of a man never showed up in all the time he stayed at the hospital.

His best guess was that Lewis was mad at him. 

Arthur did his best to remember all his faults and fails but he never got an answer, so when he was able to get up by his own, he wasted no time to give the Pepper’s Paradiso a visit. The only thing he witnessed there was Lewis’ restless mother asking him where in the world her son was.

The question didn’t hit him immediately, it echoed inside his mind for a while as his best friend's family broke down. The young man could see his heart drop to the floor when his eyes met Mrs and Mr Pepper’s faces. Lewis hadn’t returned home and it had already been a month; both adults had called their son several times, they reported him missing but the police had no clues on his chase so their only hope relied on Arthur’s shoulders, but when he crossed the restaurant's doors that night, all hope they had left fled through the windows.

He damned that night as much as he damned that cave.

When more months passed by and his friend showed no signs on coming back soon, he grabbed a map, his backpack and Vivi, he put them all on the van and drove almost mindlessly all across the state and a little bit beyond that. He pointed out the places Lewis could have gone, most of the circles were at caves. And so his search began, looking everywhere, under the rocks if it was necessary, they visited haunted places, risked their lives and dignity several times, but Arthur found nothing, and the fact that Vivi refused to believe that Lewis ever existed didn’t helped his mood. 

His only consolation was when his mind refused to sleep, those were the nights full of comforting silence, no thoughts ringing inside himself, no real worries to his head, just him and the nostalgic memories of his friends. He used to scroll his phone gallery over and over again, remembering the good times, hoping that he could go back to them once he found his lost brother. Arthur daydreamed his encounter with Lewis, and all his mind craved for was a big bear hug that only his best friend mastered. Tho, his little piece of heaven came to an end when the van stopped in front of a massive, haunted mansion; there was when things went straight to hell.

Now, as he revised the old lady’s tsuru, he regretted many aspects of his life decisions.

 

* * *

 

It was midnight, there was nothing but silence all over the room except for a young man’s soft snorting. Well hidden behind covers he rested calmly dreaming about a perfect world that drew a nice smile on his tired face, it had been a busy day at work, many angry customers yelling at his face, lots of stuff to shelve properly and a large floor to be moped left him exhausted and so, when he arrived home, he KO'd on the comfiness of his bed. Lord Cthulhu bless the man who invented the bed, he thought.

All he did when he arrived home was take off his too-tight shoes, throw the shirt into a chair, unbutton his pant and directly fall into the pillows that waited for his impact, it hurt a little, but when he made contact with them, he was very, very inside the world of the sleepness.

Between his breathings and dreams, a muffled ‘thud’ was heard. It was not loud but its vibration made him open an eye; he grumbled a little and obligated himself to fall on Morpheus’ arms again, but the ‘thud’ sound dragged him slowly to wake up. This time he was angry so he furiously checked the clock besides his bed, 00:02 in the morning, who the heck was hammering at 00:02 in the morning?!

With bare feet, he stepped on the carpet and approached to where the sound was guiding him, the ‘thud’ lead him to the door of his house basement. He frowned and rubbed his eyes to get used to the dark. His hand reached the door handle and what he witnessed was out of this world, his voice was cut like if a pair of scissors cut his throat, eyes wide open refused to separate from the basement entrance. Inside it, was the undead, four green man did their best to move, the sounds they emanated were inhuman and their skin was peeling off so the young man could see their inner organs and rotten muscles. The drop that spilled the glass was when one of the men lost his arm and fell to the floor. So he screamed and closed the door with a sonorous ‘SLAM’ and ran away from it. 

 

* * *

 

Vivi holded Lewis hand tightly while she stared at the house excitedly, she had settled a date to met the young man who had desperately called her that morning, so the crew was supposedly meeting with him around midnight. The man had promised cash payment as soon as the work was done so she found no reasons to decline the job, the blue haired girl took her friend and boyfriend in the van and drove to the address pointed on her notebook, also, she broke some speed limits due the fact that they were already late to the meeting, but that's a secret. The bubbling girl was a little disappointed when she saw nobody there, were they that late? Checking her phone she realized they were just a minute late, it wasn’t that bad, right?

“You said he was goin’ to wait for us, right?” Arthur yawned.

“Ye-yeah, he said that… uh, should I call him?” her questioning eyes met Lewis dead ones and Arthur’s tired ones.

She took her phone from her purse, but before Vivi could type the number, a car pulled up behind them. 

“Geez, I’m sorry for the delay, thank you for your patience!” heavy steps hurriedly drew near them, the young man stepped in the light and all they saw was a brunette, thin boy in a Walmart’s uniform, he had little eye bags that somehow dissimulated his freckles on his cheeks. “I just- phew, I just got out of work. Ha, but I’m glad you’re… you’re here.”

The poor boy looked out of air, exalted and kinda anxious that he had to bend down a little to catch his breath again. Once he was back in form he smiled at them. “I’m Michael Morris, nice to meet you, Vivi, isn’t it?” and he gave his hand.

Vivi shacked it. “Yep! I thought you weren’t coming.” She gave the boy a quick view again, this time juggling him, she was always taught to be punctual at meetings, Michael had broke her first rule. Not good, Michael.

“Tell us, Michael, what’s the problem?” this time Arthur talked, trying his best to hide how weary he felt. 

The brunette boy sighed. “You guys won’t believe this.”

 

* * *

 

He guided the Mystery Skulls inside the house, it was small, very simple and lacked a lot of things, the guy seemed to like empty spaces or he just didn’t had the money to buy proper furniture for the living room. Most of it was just a long hallway that guided directly to the basement door.

“You guys are ready?” Michael asked.

“Uhm, yes?” Vivi threw a quick glance at both her boys and Mystery, the ghost and the dog nodded but Arthur, as always, was a little more reluctant on his response. “Why are you like… that?” She asked to the Walmart guy.

“I swear… this is just-” Michael opened the door, the creak it made made Arthur jump on his place. When the basement was completely visible they saw nothing but normal basement stuff: shelves full of labeled boxes, scattered tools and old objects left to collect dust.

“WHA- WHAT?! I… I swear yesterday this- this was- IT WAS FULL OF ZOMBIES! But what… what happened?!” the brunette looked nervous, like if he was going to fall in any moment, Arthur wondered when was the guy going to spit his guts out. “I… I saw it… I’m sure.”

“Michael, are you under medication or-” Vivi was cut off. But if their client was a delusional guy, it wouldn’t be the first time.

“No! I’m not. Maybe… maybe I just need sleep?” he asked himself. Arthur could agree with the guy in that.

Michael closed the door quickly,and then he opened it again, he did it several times but the only thing they saw was the same ugly basement. “Maybe you gotta clean up this place.” Lewis suggested. “It was probably your imagination telling you this needs a desperate repair.”

“You think?” the disappointed owner looked at the taller member. “I mean, this was around 00:02 when I came and checked…” Lewis only response was a nod.

“Look, we could give this place a quick look with some artifacts, I think we got some anti-zombie stuff on the van, and a small sesion with the spirit box should be enough to track anything down. How’s that?”

“Guess that’s fine.”

 

 

* * *

 

“Now we gonna clean this guy’s basement? Really Vivi?” Arthur protested as he took her bat out of the shelve and handed it to Lewis.

“We’re not cleaning his place, cheeto.” Vivi said taking an axe out of a box. “We’re just looking for ‘zombies’. I don’t think we find any, tho, they don’t exist.”

“Are you serious Viv?” her pet reclaimed. “You believe in ghosts, vampires, werewolves, beasts and gods out of this world like Cthulhu, but not in zombies? Did I hear that clear?”

She nodded to Mystery. “Zombies are just a _Hollyweed_ invent to make money, they were just out of creativity and they thought: ‘oh, wouldn’t it be nice if we made the most horrible and gross creatures to ever exist for this movie, because we’re outta ideas’.” She imitated an old and dumb voice.

“Right…” the disguised creature said, not believing in his owner.

With all their equipment in hand, the Mystery Skulls came back to the basement. The white door was closed, so with their hands occupied by tons of stuff it was kinda annoying. Vivi threw to the floor all the things and with a ‘brbrbr’ sound she tiredly pulled open the door, a weak light lighted up a small portion of her face and her eyes opened like plates in shock, her hands were quick in closing the door again and her mouth let go a little moan in horror.

“Is something wrong-?” Lewis directed to her worriedly.

“Arthur, what time is it?” were the only words that left her throat.

“Uh, 00:02” he revised his wrist watch. “Isn’t that-?”

“Yes.” Lewis agreed.

“Oh, damn.” both Vivi and Arthur muttered.

The leader opened the door reluctantly, again it light up her face, so she fully let the door present the basement entrance to the remaining members. The view was of a train station, tiles decorated the place and big spiders hanged from the ceiling, but to be honest the station was still pretty much unfinished. There was dirt all over the place, some metal bars thrown away and some rusty tools that no longer looked functionable. But at the top of it, the most incredible thing was the giant train. Or at least it was very big for them as it was different from the common trains.

The bubble leader wasted no time on get the stuff she threw on the floor and get inside the train station. Behind her, the rest of the group was not sure if believe in what they were seeing, it was just too unreal, or it felt that way.

With a general view of the place, the gang said it was beautiful, out of this world. The sky was amazing, full of unfinished but very well performed paintings, a marble floor that felt like walking on ice, few of the thick and gigantic pillars were complete but they were a piece of art made with concrete and finesse hands or an artisan. Gold and white ruled over the ocres and silver palettes, but it was all a delight.

Stairs gave way into the station, and the girl cuddle with her soft hands the railings and felt like a Disney princess on her castle.  “Look at all of this!” she pointed to the old radio and a hammer that rested on a very aged wood chair that missed one of its supports. “It must be from the 50’s!”

“Vivi, I’m not sure about this one. I think we should get out of here soon. This is about to fall down.” Arthur analyzed the poor foundations and pillars that barely holded the place together.

“Nonsense, orange. If this managed to materialize properly then it must resist for another hour or two.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of, blue.” Lewis said agreeing with Arthur. “We don’t know if this is a ghost doing or something more powerful that that.”

Her excitement died a little with her boyfriend’s warning. He was probably sure, he sense the paranormal a little and she trusted him, but it was better get a second opinion, so she directed to her wise pet. “Mystery, what do you think?”

Her dog walked around the working area, smelled the floor and air in search for anything near, he highly considered marking his territory ‘in chase something might come’, surely it was because he forgot to pee before getting himself into that situation, but forget about excuses. “I think I’m going to agree with Arthur on this. This is still weak, whatever made this up hasn’t finished yet and it’s not going to stand on its own for too long.”

“How much time do we have then?”

Mystery stood still. “Half hour as much. We’re lucky if we get forty minutes.”

She considered his words “That’s enough for a spirit box sesion.” the blue girl concluded.

The Mystery Skulls reuned in a circle in the middle of the train station, the blond man took the dispositive on his hands and turn it on. The static echoed all over the place and it was eaten in the distance, the static felt uncomfortable inside the ghost skull, it had its own echo inside himself, but he decided to pay no attention.

“This is Arthur, Lewis and Vivi, if there are any spirits here tonight, tell me-”

“Please stop quoting vines, Vivi.” Arthur quickly interrupted. “We got little time, y’know”

“Party popper.” she reclaimed. “Can you say our names back to us? Or perhaps say your name?”

They waited for some minutes, they heard nothing but small interruptions of the local radio and some songs but nothing exactly the answers they wanted, was this apparition a reflection of other dimensions? That’d be cool to Vivi’s eyes.

“We’ll should turn it off, we forgot to charge it yesterday.” Lewis pointed, kinda jaded by the sound.

“ _Soyuz nerushimyiy respublik svobodnyih. Splotila naveki Velikaya Rus_ ”

“What did you just said, Arthur?” the ghost looked at the mechanic.

“I didn’t said a thing.”

They stood in silence. 

“ _Da zdravstvuet sozdanny voley narodov. Yediny, moguchiy Sovetskiy Soyuz!_ ”

“That isn’t coming from the box.” Arthur exclaimed with a hint of increasing horror in his voice.

“ _Slavsya, Otechestvo nashe svobodnoye, druzhby narodov nadyozhny oplot_ ”

The more they heard the more they realized that it wasn’t exactly one voice, but it was more like a chorus of men singing along and proudly of their tune. They were actually very good at it, sounding in perfect harmony, it probably took them years to reach the notes like that. “ _, partiya Lenina, sila narodnaya, nas k torzhestvu kommunizma vedyot!_ ”

The song eventually got louder and louder, the paranormal team was looking everywhere to see where that music came from. Only one team mate had the answer and he realized that late. A quartet of men appeared from a dark hole, the opposite side of where the train was facing, they were all sharing the weight of a metal bar on their shoulders and still sang happily. They didn’t stopped singing and muttering the tune even when they dropped the heavy bar to the floor, that’s when they sang louder.

“ _Skvoz grozi siyalo nam solntsie svobodi, I Lenin veliki nam put' ozaril, na pravoie delo on podnial narodi, na trud i na podvigi nas vdohnovil!_ ” shoulder by shoulder, they raised they powerful voices and let the echo help their act. After the hitted the climax, they broke in smiles and pats on their back as well as what it seemed cheerful compliments.

The paranormal quartet lost no time in hiding behind the engine, keeping their eyes open to any hostile movement. The undead singers didn’t even flinch if they saw the investigators, they kept minding their business.

Vivi couldn’t take off her eyes from the undead corpses in front of her, they looked gross, they dropped some kind of slime and the skinn just wouldn’t fall of the rot muscle, but she couldn’t deny that they indeed didn’t smell that bad, probably they needed a little bit of perfume and mouthwash. Their clothes were dirty, old and rusty, but they had no holes and their work boots were in almost perfect conditions, if the quartet was invited to a waltz they could go with their current clothing.

“Art, hand me the cam” she whispered. “, this cosplaying dudes are going to look GREAT at our Facebook page.”

The boy tried to reach the camera with his shaky hands, his movements were clumsy and he was going to pass away at any given moment, but just before Arthur could grab the camera, he accidentally turned on the spirit box and the tunnel immediately filled with the snow sound. The man gave a gasp and tried his best to shut it down, but his body acting in anxiety just did not cooperate. “Off, off, off, oFF, OFF-”

What his fingers did was activate the radio-mode he installed a while ago when the van radio didn’t worked. He was regretting that decision. The undead man quickly turned at them and their mouths dropped to the floor, and one also dropped his arm.

“Now I think is a good moment to run.” Mystery wagged his tail and the team nodded their heads in agreement.

“ _Von tam!_ ” one of the zombies shouted to his companions while pointing deliberately at the running investigators. “ _Dlya nikh!”_

“ _Istanbul was Constantinople, now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople_ ”

“NOW IT’S NOT THE TIME!” Arthur screamed at the box doing his best to make it stop or lower the volume.

“ _Been a long time gone, oh Constantinople, now it's Turkish delight on a moonlit night._ ”

Echoing through the tunnels, not only a neat violin solo played, but a hurried team of hurried steps ran for their lives, lighted by magenta supernatural flames and a very lame phone flash, the Mystery Skulls were in a rush finding a way out of the station or a way to turn the place back again into a common basement, but their time was running out before the place fell on them because of the weak magic holding the weight of a very old urban legend.

“ _Every gal in Constantinople, lives in Istanbul, not Constantinople_ ” the box still played regardless of the mechanic’s attempts to stop it. “ _So if you've a date in Constantinople, she'll be waiting in Istanbul_.”

“I have an idea!” Vivi’s head lighted up. “Split!” and so she ran to the opposite way.

“VIVI THAT’S THE WORST IDE- WAIT” and Arthur was left alone.

 

* * *

 

Her blue hair got in her eyes so she trusted in her instincts to survive. She was the one, the hope of humanity weighted on her back, she was the protagonist of her own anime, her own z-movie, Vivi put all her mind in surviving and getting rid of the plague that could end civilization and life as she had known. Quick spins on her feet to have covered every angle, her ears were ready to hear every sound, right now she could hear a needle fall thirteen miles away from her as if it was a atomic bomb. Sweat fell on her neck and chest and she was seriously considering on taking off her blue scarf and sweater that her lovely grandma and mom had gave her. Her hands rolled and tightened their grip on a metal bat full of japanese prayers and enchantments, so she was protected against any zombie that might draw near her.

Of course this would have been a very pretty description of events if they were real, the truth was that Vivi was clinging at Lewis and swinging her bat at any direction when she heard a growl or an unnatural sound. 

“ _Been a long time gone, oh Constantinople, why did Constantinople get the works? That's nobody's business but the Turks_.” resounded all over the tunnel. The song was slowly getting stuck on her head.

“I don’t get it, Lew” she looked up at him. “ _zom-whezzes_ do not exist or SHOULD not exists.” she wrinkled her nose. “They’re just gross…”

“What’s your point?”

“My point it’s that zombies are just not possible, I can get ghost, I can understand vampires but zombies?!” she listed with her fingers. “Just because one forgot to eat all the brain now there’s two. I just- no. Just stay dead.”

“Well, there’s also the possibility of a virus.” Lewis pointed out.

She gave him a not-welcoming look after his response, she was just not taking anything zombie related.

“ _Istanbul_ ”

“I’m going to dream that song, I swear.” she scratched her forehead.

 

* * *

 

“ _Istanbul_ ”

Mystery’s nose danced all over the floor finding a way to get to Arthur or the undead man or just get his team together again, whatever happened first.

His mind screamed to get Vivi as soon as possible, but he also thought of losing Arthur, and maybe Lewis but he was already dead so… Nevermind, he just really needed to pee.

Who was he fooling? His priority at the moment was get a nice and cozy spot to pee in, his abdomen begged for him to let go and stop making pressure at it. All he smelled was the weak magic disappearing and the distant scent of the vengeful spirit as well as a energetic soul. 

“Hold a little longer.” he whispered remembering that delicious cold water he drank before the mission. He should had taken more measures.

 

* * *

 

Arthur’s eyes met blackness once again. He looked to the left and met a black wall, he looked right and met another black wall, he turned his head up and met the same thing, he tried to find his feet but met a hole that had ate them. The young man was alone except for the box that still played out loud the song. He may have broke the thing, he thought biting the box in a last attempt to make it stop.

“ _Istanbul_ ”

He wished that the song was more calm, to ease his nerves at least. Arthur sighed to cool down for a second and walked straight, hoping to find a way out before the magical place ran out of magic and fell down on him, honestly, that would be the best escenario, better than be killed by a zombie, or murdered by a ghost. He shocked his head with that comment.

Was his state that bad to be that pessimist? Was him that afraid to die? To be murdered by the ghost of his friend?

Arthur didn’t even wanted to think about it. He was trying, trying really hard to befriend Lewis again, or even just earn some trust to keep things nice, maybe he could not fix it to the way they were but anything was better than their current state of friendship. What had happen? Why he couldn’t bring himself to be the same simple and nice boy he used to be? Why couldn’t this Arthur be _Arthur_? Who knows.

Step by step he lost himself in his train of thoughts and left his heavy head lead him to somewhere safer. The blond man came back to the real world when his eyes lighted up with a familiar magenta flame, small in the distant that looked like a 12 point upside down coma. He couldn’t help but smile with hope as his light shoes floated to it. The more he approached, the clearer he saw the figures standing at it sides.

Vivi and Lewis were standing in profile to their left, the ghost was staring at something or trying to find something between the dark, the blue leader stood at his side, holding her bat down as if she was resting it on the floor, she was staring at the same thing, of finding it, whatever. Arthur felt relieved with that sight, he just needed to see where Mystery was.

The mechanic was closer now, and the flame now lighted him more, then he saw him, a zombie behind them, the creature had both arms raised and his mouth perfectly open to fit a head inside, dumb steps did their best to guide the thing to the two members, the blond man knew the zombie targeted Vivi, since she was alive and, well, had a smart and sweet brain to be eaten. Did the intelligence made the brain more delicious?

Arthur’s eyes opened like plates, and ran to them mindlessly. “Vivi, watch out!”

“Artie?!” Vivi exclaimed excited.

“ _Istanbul_ ” and, when the undead man could not be closer to his friends, he threw the box to the zombie’s head making it butt-sit on the floor.

Vivi gasped and her boyfriend prepared to throw a fire to the zombie. Arthur finished his race and got ready to kick green heads in chase it was required. 

The terrified green man made himself small and curled in a ball at their feet, with his bony hand tried to reach the spirit box, but Vivi’s foot prohibited him taking away the machine, the hand tried to grab it again, instead of backing, Vivi put pressure on the box making it crunch with the dirt.

“Please! Don’t… we like that song…” a raspy voice begged and then a pair of hands clapped making the lights turn on. To both human members, the sudden change in illumination made their eyes ache.

“DON’T GIVE ANOTHER STEP YOU- what?” without any anticipation, Mystery jumped out of the darkness but stopped his persecution in mid air when his eyelids burned as if he had just witnessed the Sun. The pet fell between his owner and the mechanic making sure they were just fine.

“Mystery did you just pissed on me?” asked Arthur feeling something unnaturally warm going through his leg. The dog vaguely smiled.

“What do you-… you like the song?” Vivi cut off their act.

The three missing members of the quartet positioned behind their fallen and scared companion, they were quite a team, the one on the floor was the smallest one and also the oldest one, the two standing at his left were like twins except that one was very thin and the other was chubbier. But just right behind everyone else, a man close to Lewis height and built, kinda hided on the twin’s back, but something notable was that his left hand was smaller than his right one, and also seemed like it fell off constantly. 

“Yes… we like the song.” the thin zombie nodded. He kneel down and pointed the box. “The song.”

Vivi put her foot down. Without taking off her vision, she grabbed the box and pointed it. “This song?”

“Da… I mean, yes, the song.” the green man drew a polite smile and his twin did the same. “Come on boys, one, two, three!”

“ _Even old New York was once New Amsterdam._ ” the twins sang in unison.

“ _Why they changed it I can't say_ ” the one on the floor found his voice again.

“, _people just liked it better that way._ ” shily, the giant finished the chorus.

The group reincorporated, and with arms on their shoulders, like a mid hug, prepared for the next verse. “ _Istanbul was Constantinople, now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople._ ” they fell into the song. “ _Been a long time gone, oh Constantinople. Why did Constantinople get the works? That's nobody's business but the Turks_.”

They broke their brotherly hug and quickly took some instruments from the wall, resting against it, some chases lied open for the instruments to be played by their owners, with cheerful movements, the violin did a clean solo courtesy of the shortest man, the chubby guy held a guitar in the tone of ‘D’ and his brother had a drum; and the giant had big, shiny golden plates and some bells on his wrist.

“ _So, Take me back to Constantinople._ ” exclaimed the one with the guitar.

“ _No, you can't go back to Constantinople_.” answered the one with the drum.

“ _Been a long time gone, oh Constantinople. Why did Constantinople get the works?_ ” the violin joined the party. “ _That's nobody's business but the Turks._ ”

“ _Istanbul._ ” and so ended with a grand finale with the four workers in unison.

The Mystery Skulls were speechless, the orchestra they witnessed was one of the most prettier things they’ve heard in all their lives, with only male but well trained voices, they mastered ‘They Might Be Giants’.

“What do you think? Was it good?” with a reverence, taking his guitar aside, one asked. “Oh! But where are our manners? My name is Vadik Vasiliev.”

His brother also bowed. “And I’m his brother Vadim Vasiliev.”

Next to them, the other two did the same. “I am Kuzma Mikhailov, and the giant at my side is Lyosha Kuznetsov, he just does not talk a lot.”

“How do you make that sound with your mouth?” Arthur asked.

 

* * *

 

“So, what you’re telling me, is that we’re at the Metro-2 of Russia, the one made in 50’s, for the World War Two?” Vivi was at the edge of her seat. Taking notes on her pad and recording their session.

“Well, yes ma'am, that sums up ourselves.” Vadim agreed. “We’re just old workers doing our Mother Russia’s will, and fulfilling our comrade Iósef Stalin’s orders.” The four cheerised the name.

“Incredible.” Arthur admitted. “But what about the ‘strange forces’? And-And the rock?!”

“Oh, those forces…” Vadik smiled with nostalgia. “We saw many of our men perish because of them.” All lowered their heads in respect. “As for the rock.”

“Lyosha found it.” Kuzma patted his big arm. He only blushed flustered but with a hint of pride. “You guys would have like it. The rock was bigger than Moscow itself and harder than communism.”

“What can you tell us about the mysterious machinist? Is it real?” Lewis asked amazed by the stories. Arthur gave him an excited glance as if he also wanted to know the answer.

“Of course he’s real!” Kuzma laughed. “Egor! Man! Come and join us!”

One sleepy head popped out of the window of the train. His clothes suggested that he was sleeping or resting. Egor limited himself to weakly smile to the paranormal team and then keep with his sleep. “He’s been with us all the time.” Vadik explained.

“Also, the reason why you never see again the passengers it’s because it’s a train, what did you expected? That's how the subway works.” the chubby zombie laughed. “You aboard in one station and leave in another, the same with the other people! The aboard and leave! You’re just too indifferent to know where people leave.”

“Yes, like my old crush Natalya. I remember she boarded in and left so quickly that I never saw her again. That’s the train’s curse. You’ll never see the passengers ever again.”

“I gotta admit that I didn’t believe in your existence.” Vivi closed her notebook. “I thought you were weirdos trying to impress somebody.” she laughed at her ingenuity.

The violinist smiled. “The only person we’re trying to impress is our Russia.”

And all men cheerised the name.

“Well, guess our chase is closed.” the bubble leader relaxed. “But, what are you guys going to do? Uh, the war is over and there’s no need to keep this on. Also, what are you doing in America?”

Lyosha speaked. “Come a little closer, Ms. Vivienne.” and she did it. “The true propourse of our Metro-2 was infiltrate into the White House and have an easiest access to all secret documents of the States.”

Vivi gulped. Vissariónovich was crazy.

“Kuznetsov! Please! We have visitors! Keep your things together.” both brothers reacted when they saw how Lyosha’s left arm fell to the floor. The giant man took it from the floor. Arthur had an uneasy feeling about that strange limb.

“I’m sorry. This has been falling off a lot recently.” he apologized.

“It’s okay, it happens… I guess.” Lewis said. “But still, what are you going to do now? Keep the Metro construction?”

“To be honest, Mr Lewis, we have no idea.” Kuzma scratched his forehead. “We devoted all our lives and part of our afterlife to finish what we swore to built up, but it’s been too long...”

All men sighed. “We wanted to start a band, you know?” Vadim said. “But the only song we know is out Mother Russia’s anthem.”

“We were the Masters Of Russia.” Vadik drew the name on the air.

“Weren’t we B.R.A.I.N.S?” Kuzma exclaimed annoyed.

“No, no, no, we were ‘They Might Be Russians’” Vadim stood up from his seat.

“They’re all dumb, we were ‘Fifty Seconds to Russia’” Lyosha whispered to the Skulls who laughed.

Vadik turned to the investigators. “As you can see, we could never choose a name or start a band.”

“Well! Now you have the time to do it! To start a band!” Vivi jumped from her chair. “You guys have been practicing for more than 60 years! Y’all can do it!”

Encouraged, the man nodded and speaked a few words at each other. So Vadim interrupted. “Ms. Vivienne, you’re right. We have a whole world to conquer with our music.”

“I think ‘Zom-wheeze’ can be a good name” he looked at Vivi who giggled with the name. “, what genre are you guys playing anyway?” Lewis suggested to the brothers.

“Heavy metal and freeform jazz!” the Vasiliev brothers answered happily.

 

 

* * *

 

The station disappeared when the team and the band left the basement. The young moon and the long missed stars made the zombies wonder what other maravells they lost in all the time they were down there. It was around past three in the morning, probably even four in the disgraceful morning. 

“Michael! Hi, we found them.” Vivi approached the tired brunette man, he almost dropped his phone when he saw the paranormal team standing with a quartet of zombies full of instruments. “I want to present you: Vadik, Vadim, Kuzma and Lyosha! they’re ‘THE UNDEAD.”

“Good morning my good man, Mr. Michael” Vadim stepped forward to present himself. “We hope we didn’t cause you any inconvenience while we worked on our project, but we promise no more noise and apologize for our behavior, we should have consulted with you first but it wasn’t of our knowledge that you resided here.” the zombie kneel down and kissed the man hand.

Michael was muted, his mind couldn’t come up with any words for what he was seeing. “I, uh.”

“Listen, Michael, they mean no harm, I think they’re veggies, but they’re really good with music and the only thing they want most in this realm of existence is play they music for the world.” Vivi gave him puppy eyes. “They’re looking for a place to stay, could you…?”

The owner of the house was silent, he examined every single member of the zombies with judgment, their clothes, their postures, their behavior, everything he could see with a first look, especially the instruments they proudly possessed.

“I think... I know somebody that can help you out with your career.” Michael was content. The man celebrated. “BUT NO MORE HAMMERING AT ONE IN THE FUCKING MORNING!”

Vadim nodded in acceptance of his only condition. Both sides won, and it meant a full job for the Mystery Skulls.

 

 

* * *

 

“Can I ask you something, Vi?” Lewis asked while he accommodated the last box of material.

“Sure, what is it Lulu?”

“I know you wouldn’t deny the existence of any paranormal being. Why did you not believe in zombies? I’m not eating the _Hollyweed_ version.”

Vivi blushed awkwardly “Haha, well... you see. When we met, we stayed at your place once to watch movies, and we saw this bad Blockbuster movie, I think it was ‘Plan 9 From Outer Space’, and I laughed so bad at one escene that one popcorn came out of my nose.”

“And that’s it?!” Arthur reclaimed from under the van. “All this time denying zombies because a popcorn scaped your nose!?”

“Shut- shut up mozzarella stick! It hurt so much!” and she rolled a fake tear on her cheek, as the drama queen she was.

 

* * *

 

The thing had barely made it alive. It moved as fast as it could with inhuman stretches, eating up all the dirt in its way. It wasn't exactly human, nor was from another world, but it was better take a good distance from it. It was green and gross looking, the green thing seemed like if it was melting with the little moonlight the trees reflected.

And it tried to run, to move as fast as possible but quietly to not be seen. Even if everything part of it hurt like hell, it felt all its strength fade away with every passing second but it kept moving. It needed a vessel, a new and young vessel to get energy, it needed no food as long as it had a stable body, bit its time was running out and faster that expected.

The green thing knew within the woods it had no possibility to find something or someone, however, if it gave up, it would fade away of the world of the living for another good thousand years, and it didn't wanted to go back to hell until it saw its enemies on their knees, praying hard to all heavens for their lives before burning in the hottest flame of hell. But its goals were impossible if it found no body right now. It crawled with its 'face' buried in the mud, how could it end like that? The green thing had lots of powers, it was invincible, no one standed a chance against it. What would it enemies say if they could see it like that? They would surely laugh and mock at its helplessness.

But a voice broke through its thoughts. A female voice singing an enchantment. She was young, full of life and with nothing left in the world, her soul was empty, broken as a shattered glass and with a massive hole on it, she screamed vulnerability to all demons and supernatural creatures. The thing wasted no time and ran to her.

With no effort, it got what it looked for, the demon possessed the girl breaking her weak barriers of her heart. Her skin turned into a twisted and horrible green, her beautiful eyes were consumed by darkness and with a glowing green pupil to see. Her screams were unbearable and hurted her throat, but it quickly muffled them with her hand as the powerful demon striped away her control over her body until she was too far away to act or defend herself.

Yes, that was what the cave demon needed; a desperate soul in need of love, what a strangely familiar feeling, it or she thought. 

“Fear no more, darling” she broke her factions with a evil smile. “You’re no longer alone in this cold world, in no time, we will make our enemies fall.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg, I just noticed this song and the last one are both in Umbrella Academy xD  
> Thank you so much for reading and I hope you liked this new chapter and I really hope you're liking the story so far :)  
> Remember that english it's not my native language and I make mistakes, so if you see one, please let me know so I can fix it! Any suggestions are welcome <3, read y'all on the next chap!  
> Comments=kudos uwu
> 
> P.S luis pls, i beg you, mind your own business and stop looking at the screen there's nothing for you here. second chance b1tch.


	3. Interlude I "Lonesome Pair"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new boy shows up in class, Arthur prefers to keep his distance to avoid troubles, but it's like they're meant to find in each other a missing piece for their loneliness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song: "I'll Be There For You" by The Rembrandts

The door burst open as the teacher made her way to her desk, a pile of books depending on the grip of thin arms and a cup of coffee dangerously leaning its content on her other hand. Arthur watched the obnoxious Miss pass in front of him, she being ignorant of all the hate views on her way from her students. Mathematics wasn’t very welcomed at seven in the morning in a Monday.

Through the windows the sun made its way to Arthur’s face and escalated to the colorful walls of the tired classroom. Arthur lied at top of his desk, pencils and lose papers scattered on the floor at his feet grabbed his attention when he remembered how he had forgotten to do homework, but he couldn’t care less as his mind prefered to play “It’s My Life” at full volume not letting the class reach his ears. There was nobody that could stop him from floating away in a bubble, too far away where no math operations could break his head, in fact, he had nobody to wake him up when class was over, he had no friends, nobody to share lunch with or play after school, anyway Arthur couldn’t care less, he was happy after all as long as he thought he needed anybody in order to feel fine. 

Arthur closed his eyes and concentrated on the song inside himself, vibrating at the tune of the bass and moving his fingers like he was playing a drum. The song had reached climax, he forced his eyes shut harder and taped his lap quietly as his brain sang louder and louder and his smile grew wider and wider. He filled his lungs with air like if he was about to scream but three knocks at the door popped his ball and, embarrassed that his classmates had witnessed his concert, he withdrawn into his seat. Everyone’s eyes were fixated on the door, through the small visor he was able to see a small part of the director’s bald head, “ _ they finally found out who put the gas bombs in the boy’s bathroom _ ” he thought. “ _ , this is the end of Arthur Kingsman. _ ”

The tall teacher opened the door, the children moved like worms in their seats making impossible to Arthur see what was in front of him, Arthur sat behind them all. When the door shut close, the green haired woman looked a little concerned, she opened her mouth to speak but no word came out. The students had returned to a calmer position but it was still impossible for Arthur to know what was happening in front of him. 

“Class, today we’ll be having a new student…” her hand held something he couldn’t see. “Please say hello to Lewis, he doesn’t talks a lot… he’s new in town so he needs friends, be nice to him.” she forced a smile, well knowing that the new kid may never do friends.

Arthur almost choked on his own saliva, another kid had just joined? In the middle of the year? Also new in town? That gained Arthur’s complete attention, he moved to left and right trying to get a watch on the new kid. His view was short, as well as the new kid, he was small and looked a little chubby and dark skinned, purple hair that covered his eyes but the smile in his face said it all.

The teacher ordered Lewis to look for an empty space, bad luck for Arthur, the only available places were at both his sides. With short steps, the new kid made his way to Arthur’s left, he sat down and placed a pile of books, a red notebook and two pens on his desk.

Lewis waved friendly at him.

Arthur didn’t respond and looked away.

  
  


* * *

  
  
  


As day passed, every way he'd go, Lewis would be there. He didn't seem to be following Arthur, it was more like a casualty, an annoying casualty.

It's not that Arthur hated that boy, but he certainly didn't want to have anything to have with Lewis. The foreign boy looked troublesome, a target to bullies and who-knows-what-else, the kind of people Arthur preferred to have as far away as possible. But it was like the universe pledged, screamed at him that they were supposed to be together, to be friends, the closest friends on Earth. Arthur didn't want to be it.

Arthur preferred be a lonesome wolf, the black sheep of the family. A rebel without a cause, the revolution nobody asked for. And he was happy with it. Lewis, at his eyes, was bright, too loud for him, somebody that called out everybody. But he was alone too. That made Arthur uncertain about him.

Sometimes, when he  _ spied _ the purple boy, he would see his many attempts to talk to people, he first tried with classmates, later with the other group, then he skipped to older grades until he reached professors; he was rejected in all of them. He probably tried too hard, or was too pushy, Arthur wasn't sure what Lewis did wrong, but his methods didn't seem to be the bests. That made Arthur's friend-part wake up, a small impulse to go and try to get to know Lewis a little better, but his introverted brain always kept his legs paralyzed and straight in the ground. He felt guilty at times.

Arthur sighed and straighten up his backpack. 

School had been over a few hours ago, he just didn’t want to go home right now, he didn’t feel like sharing his afternoon with his uncle or any of his coworkers. So the full packed library served as his hideout for the day. Of course, Lewis had been there, at the very back of the library almost hidden by the ridiculous amount of bookshelves and the teacher sitting at his left. He ignored him with headphones hanging from his ears and music loud enough for him to devour a good book.

Slowly, he was getting tired, he closed his current lecture and left.

Lost in his thoughts, he wandered around the empty halls of the school, wasting time around. His amber eyes following his walking feet guiding him to the nearest exit, not sure if he was going home after his walk was over. 

Distant voices of other students kept him company, he didn’t pay attention to them until a few sounded closer. A familiar red notebook slide to his feet, it guided him to another one, then to another one. It made a way to the boy he was avoiding so much.

Knees on the floor, Lewis grabbed one by one of his belongings. Eyes shadowed by his heavy purple hair, however it was easy to notice he was sad. He had no tears running down his cheek but Arthur could swear he hear a slight sniff. Oh well, everyone dropped their stuff occasionally. He turned around, wanting to ignore Lewis and keep his way, but when he heard a pair of mocking laughs he stood paralyzed.

Lewis hadn’t accidentally dropped his backpack.

“Hey, you, pick that up!” he said, annoyed. However, the bullies were too far away to hear his demand. Arthur shoot an angry look at them for several seconds until they disappeared. 

“It’s ok,” Lewis stared at Arthur. “ I’m fine.” 

Amber eyes saw his thin arms clumsily try to pick up the rest of the book. “It’s just an accident.” he whispered zipping close his bag. 

“Hello! I’m Lewis.” the boy collected himself from the ground with a sigh, but quickly extended a welcoming hand to Arthur with a warm smile drawn around his caramel face. Arthur reluctantly responded his handshake.

“I’m Arthur.” and a smile escaped his lips.

  
  


* * *

 

 

 

They both sat down under a big tree behind school. Comic books laid open on the grass, a couple of pencils scattered at their laps and a radio turned on to the nearest music station. The sun was setting behind them, but their vivid conversation wasn't dying with its light. How did Arthur end up sharing his favorite comics with Lewis was everyone's guess, but he didn't seem to mind at all, Arthur was so happy about chatting with someone about his own interests without being called  _ weirdo _ that he forgot any previous wrong judgement towards Lewis. 

Lewis had an interesting energy, too kind and caring that it didn't seem real, a friendly smile that conjured trust and confidence, things that Arthur often lacked and wanted to learn. The smaller boy was quiet, sometimes withdrawn and hard to read, he often asked him to repeat what he said, but he was glad to repeat himself as many times Lewis needed to understand so he could catch up with the conversation.

“So this one if my favorite issue, in this Spiderman is infected by Venom so he’s now a little bit bad, but no worries! Peter always knows what to do.” Arthur opened the book in front of Lewis’ eyes, turned every page so fast that neither of them could exactly read the dialogue but still enjoy the action drawings. “... I really hope he gets out of this one, tho.”

“This one looks very- uh, fun!” Lewis pointed out another comic.

“Astérix and Obélix’s cartoons are always funny.” he giggled. "But I still prefer Peanuts."

"Hey!" Lewis shushed him. "Listen!" 

"What?"

" _ So no one told you life was gonna be this way _ "

Lewis patted his lap excitedly. "I love that…  _ how was it? _ – song! I love that song!"

" _ Your job's a joke, you're broke, your love life's D.O.A _ " 

Arthur took the radio closer and placed it between them. "I like this song to!"

" _ It's like you're always stuck in second gear. _ "

The smaller boy couldn't bear a bigger smile when Arthur turned up the volume.

" _ When it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even your year _ "

And just in the right point. " _ But, _ " they both sang.

" _ I'll be there for you _ " in a jump, Lewis was on his feet. " _ when the rain starts to pour. _ "

" _ I'll be there for you, _ " Arthur followed him with a energetic spark. " _ like I've been there before _ ."

" _ I'll be there for you _ ," Arthur did the drums in the air.

" _ 'cuz you're there for me too… _ " Lewis finished with the guitars. His friend explored in laughter, then he joined too.

  
  


* * *

 

 

 

The day died down and they both walked home, Lewis' place was closer, and even if it wasn't Arthur wasn't prepared for Lance's lecture about being late at home. The large building's shadow became visible as they grew closer, the neon lights looked bright that called his attention. 'Pepper's Paradiso', a restaurant that he had always been curious about but the giant pepper outside the place menaced Arthur with a hellish experience that his tongue certainly wouldn't survive. Glass doors opened in a crack, a bell above him rang softly and a welcome matt rosed his tired feet.

A sweet smell filled his nose, something between melted butter and soft flour, he couldn't identify but either wanted to let it go. He took a deep breath to enjoy it better.

Pepper's Paradiso was totally different as how he imagined, it looked rather casual than a fancy restaurant, it had its own personality with the yellow walls and themed stained glass windows; there weren't a lot of customers sitting on tables, most of them were just finishing, probably they were about to close.

“Here you are.” a tall black woman approached from behind the counter, dark red hair falling from her shoulders and loving amber eyes lowered to the boy’s level before she rubbed Lewis’ hair. “And I see you brought someone else.”

Arthur, ashamed, tried to make himself smaller behind Lewis.

“His name is Arthur.” Lewis exclaimed proudly. “I met him at school today.”

“Well,” she smiled down at Arthur. “thank you for walking Lewis home.” and she took his reddish cheek. “Why don’t you go help dad in the kitchen.”

The smaller boy nodded cheerfully and ran to the double doors hidden from everyone’s eyes.

“Thank you for sharing with him.” she said with a  _ motherly _ tone. “I know he’s not the most talkative boy in town, but I’m sure he enjoyed a lot this afternoon with you.”

When she finished, she offered him a fresh cookie, just out of the oven that was still warm to the touch, it smelled just how he liked: butter and flour. Arthur accepted it with good humor and took a bite, the cookie basically melted inside his mouth. The woman patted softly his spiky hair and proceeded to leave.

Arthur left the restaurant with his cookie in hand, he didn’t want to finish it ever. He walked down to his uncle’s, but before he could turn in the corner, a voice called him.

“Hey!” it was Lewis shouting. “We’ll talk tomorrow?”

The blond boy smirked and only nodded in response, then he continued his way.

  
  


* * *

 

 

 

“Would you mind explaining where were you exactly?!” Lance crossed his arms, annoyed. “Do you know what time is it, Arthur?”

Arthur played anxiously with his shirt, avoided eye contact and bounced his body looking for an excuse to get out of this one.

“So? Where were you, Kingsman?”

“I was playing with a friend…” he simply whispered.

“No excuse will get your butt out of this- did you just said friend?” the old man cut himself. with a surprise. Where his ears betraying him?

Arthur limited his eyes to watch the floor. “Yes…”

Lance scratched his forehead. “Well, why didn’t you say that first?” that gained the boy’s curiosity. “What about we go grab a pizza? You won it, champ.”

“I… Am I in trouble?” he innocently said.

“I’m tellin’ your mom and dad about this, yes, but you just made a friend, I’m not grounding you for having fun.” Lance patted his pocket for his car keys. 

Arthur’s eyes grew with happiness. “Then… Then, can we go to Surf’s Up?”

“Sure thing boy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Halloween!

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, so, y'all enjoy the ride? Lemme know in the comments!  
> Please notice that English it's not my native language and I make mistakes, if you find one please put it on the comments so I can fix it! I really want to improve so any criticism is very welcome. Follow me on Tumblr as @nickkkdoesstuff or my main blog @doodletrashcan if you wanna know when I upate.  
> Comments=kudos uwu <3


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